Two New Interviews on the Same Day!

Today I was pleasantly surprised to hear that not one, but TWO interviews of me were posted this morning!

First: local newspaper Arab Times: 

and second, with Jam Sphere Magazine:

My Album 'Gonna Die With The Blues' Launches, Video Up

I'm happy to announce that my debut album 'Gonna Die With The Blues' has officially launched worldwide on all major digital platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, Anghami, and others.

"From the sounds of the Mississippi Delta to inner city Chicago, with the stories of Ali Sleeq's personal life of blues, this album will be a one-of-a-kind blues release from the Middle East, with various inspirations across the genre"

To celebrate we prepared a small video for the occasion!

My Debut Album 'Gonna Die With The Blues' to be Released on April 5!

After announcing it a while back, I am finally happy to confirm the release of my debut album 'Gonna Die With The Blues' on April 5, 2018.

It has 10 tracks and features many great musicians on board. It will be released on all digital platforms, and will follow with some launch events later.

Please watch this space come launch day!

Buddy Guy Reflects on the Blues (Video)

An interview on Reverb with Buddy Guy was posted in January but I never got around to posting it until now. Please mind my delay... music and what not got in my way!

Buddy Guy is one of the last remaining OGs of the blues alive today. He's been through it all man... this is a great video for all blues, music, and guitar fans!

Rolling Stones, Taj Mahal & Keb' Mo' Win the Blues Grammys

Another year has gone by, and in the mist of all the hoopla around the major pop artists, we get the neglected music section that doesn't show up on TV... the blues Grammy awards!

So from the nominees I mentioned in November, The Rolling Stones have won the Traditional Blues Album of the Year and Taj Mahal & Keb' Mo' won the Contemporary Blues Album of the Year.

It might not be the most exciting year for the blues, but it's still nice to see the old schoolers getting the wins, not discounting the other artists like Eric Bibb, Ronald Randolph, Robert Cray and the others.

So congrats to the winners and I'll see you again same time next year! Here's some songs from the winners off their winning albums:

Fender Announces 'American Original' Series

In a nice refresh of the American Vintage series, Fender just announced it's American Original series, a revamp and rebranding of the long running production (since 1982).

The biggest change is that the fretboard radius on these axes will be a flatter moden 9.5' instead of the vintage 7.25', which makes playing a bit easier. However the rest of the specs will be true vintage, down to pickups, the nitro laquer finish, color options, and neck profiles. The series no longer specifies the actual year it's trying to replicate, rather the decade (which combines a few things together).

Kinda pricey, and although the colors are awesome they are down to two or three options per guitar. Would have loved more options.

Here's the full lineup (not including the left hand models), more on www.fender.com:

50's Stratocaster

60's Stratocaster

50's Telecaster

60's Telecaster

60's Jazzmaster

60's Jaguar

50's Precision Bass

60's Precision Bass

60's Jazz Bass

70's Jazz Bass

Nominees for the 39th Blues Music Awards

The Blues Foundation has announced the nominees for the 39th Annual Blues Music Awards, taking place on May 10th, 2018 in Memphis Tennessee, and like every year I post them for ya!

Blues Nominees for the 2018 Grammy Awards

Another year, another Grammy award ceremony. On January 28, 2018 the 60th Grammy Awards will take place in New York City.

Yesterday, the official Grammys website confirmed the full list of nominees for the event, and as usual the only nominees we care about are the blues artists!

So here you go:

Muddy Waters' Debut Album to be Reissued on Vinyl

[SOURCE]

Back in 2012, I discussed Muddy Waters' first actual album, which was a compilation of all his successful singles. The album was released in 1958 under the legendary label, Chess Records. This album contains his major hits from 1948 to 1954.

Now, 30 years after it's last reissue, the album is set to be re-released on vinyl and digital platforms. If you want to add a great album to your blues collection, this is it! It will be released on November 10, 2017.

Track listing:

Side A
1. I Just Want To Make Love To You
2. Long Distance Call
3. Louisiana Blues
4. Honey Bee
5. Rollin’ Stone
6. I’m Ready

Side B
1. Hoochie Coochie
2. She Moves Me
3. I Want You To Love Me
4. Standing Around Crying
5. Still A Fool
6. I Can’t Be Satisfied

'Xanax Blues' - Jam by Ali Sleeq & Turk

Recently I had an awesome jam with my buddy Tarek 'Turk' Kabbani of Jaybird Studios (@turkhimself on Instagram) and we recorded a song of mine called 'Xanax Blues'.

As per the usual procedure, this track was all done in one take. I played the guitars and Turk did the drums and production. Hope you all enjoy this raw blues.

Muddy Waters Mural to be Unveiled in Chicago

As part of the Chicago Blues Festival, the city of Chicago and blues fans are set for a site of wonder, as Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra will unveil his mural of blues legend Muddy Waters, on Thursday June 8th.

The Chicago Blues Fest runs from June 9-11 and is free for everyone. (no one planning to be kind enough to fund my trip?)

Blues Book: 'The Art of the Blues: A Visual Treasury of Black Music's Golden Age'

Art and blues? A history of visuals of the blues world? TAKE MY MONEY.

I purchased the blues/art book 'The Art of the Blues: A Visual Treasury of Black Music's Golden Age' by Bill Dahl, which compiles the history of cover art, poster work, and advertisements for all things blues in this amazing book. It's brings the blues image and lifestyle alive, making us feel the music just by looking at it. Bill Dahl, a  music journalist and historian who has written liner notes for countless reissues of classic blues, soul, R&B, and rock albums, is the perfect author to gather all this wonderful information.

If you are into the blues as I am, or if you are into vintage art, or simply want a book for your growing coffee table collection, then this one is for you.

Blues Review 2016

Another year has gone, this time one of the harshest. Wars, many influential celeb deaths, and Pokemon Go.

This year was a turning point for me, as I was signed to a record label and my album is coming early next year, as well having some great gigs and played in Bahrain for the first time with my rock side-project The Watertowers.

My album, coming soon in 2017

Blog wise I was not that active this year, mainly because my life and music commitments too a lot of my blog slice of the pie; hopefully you stuck around with me and I hope to bring you more blues next year. Have a good one everybody.

Oh, and in case you missed it, here's my latest Youtube upload of my band performing Dust My Broom at the DAI Fall Festival last month:

Blues Nominees for the 2017 Grammy Awards

The official Grammy website has announced their nominations for next year's event. Of course, we don't give a crap about anythin' but the blues, so here are your nominees this year:


BEST TRADITIONAL BLUES ALBUM


Can't Shake This Feeling
Lurrie Bell

Live At The Greek Theatre
Joe Bonamassa

Blues & Ballads (A Folksinger's Songbook: Volumes I & II)
Luther Dickinson

The Soul Of Jimmie Rodgers
Vasti Jackson

Porcupine Meat
Bobby Rush

BEST CONTEMPORARY BLUES ALBUM

The Last Days Of Oakland

Fantastic Negrito

Love Wins Again

Janiva Magness

Bloodline

Kenny Neal

Give It Back To You

The Record Company

Everybody Wants A Piece

Joe Louis Walker

--

Not a bad list, but obviously there's a bit of genre cross-leaping; some are not 'blues' per se, but we gotta work with what we got. 

My picks for winners are Lurrie Bell for Traditional and Fantastic Negrito for Contemporary. 

See you on February 12!

Chuck Berry Announces First Album in 38 Years

Chuck Berry, the legendary blues and rock guitarist, has announced on his official website in celebration of his 90th birthday, that he would be releasing his first album in almost four decades.

From the description:

"Comprised primarily of new, original songs written, recorded and produced by the founding rock and roll legend, ‘CHUCK’ is Berry’s first new album in thirty-eight years. It was recorded in various studios around St. Louis and features Berry’s longtime hometown backing group – including his children Charles Berry Jr. (guitar) and Ingrid Berry (harmonica), plus Jimmy Marsala (Berry’s bassist of forty years), Robert Lohr (piano), and Keith Robinson (drums) – which has supported him for over two decades on over two hundred residency shows at the famed Blueberry Hill club. More details about ‘CHUCK’ and other Berry-related events will be revealed in the coming weeks."

This is very exciting news, and I look forward to hearing some new music from Chuck; if you live under a rock, Chuck Berry was one of the main pre-cursors to rock n' roll, with many of his tracks making it to the top of the charts. As a side note, did you know Muddy Waters introduced Chuck to Chess Records? The rest is history!

Buddy Ayache: A Blues Success Story

Every once in a while you see a shining glimmer of hope in an inspiring individual in this world; today it's my good friend and blues brother, Buddy Ayache, otherwise known as "Buddy Blues". He has taken his music and the blues from Beirut to Orlando and has positioned himself to be a formidable force in the blues scene there. He has released an album and is playing almost everyday. He also won 2nd place at a blues battle of the bands there. 

You see, my story with Buddy starts when we were neighbors, when I was in AUB (he was still 16 when we met 23), we got together and he was very curious to hear the music I was playing after blasting it in the house. After I told him about the blues and gave him a few pointers about guitar etc, he took off with a great passion that I haven't seen in a long while. 

He rose the ranks of the local scene and eventually landed himself in the USA, where he enjoys a popular following and is very active. I am very proud of Buddy and I'm very happy I was able to inspire and assist someone with the music we call the blues. If only one person got the message I preach it's enough for me, and I wish Buddy more great success in the future moving forward. 

Buddy will also be featuring on my debut album "Gonna Die With the Blues" so stick around for that!

Here's Buddy's official music video "Wrong Side of the Blues", followed by a short documentary about his story, featuring a few blurbs about me (shamless plug):

The Blues, Bollywood Style

A very interesting video has surfaced which I thought I'd share with you!

Aki Kumar, an Indian bluesman, probably the first ever bluesman to come out of the country, has prepared a nice mash-up of traditional American blues with retro Bollywood pop music. He has a new album called 'Aki Goes to Bollywood' which brings the folk music of great importance together!

In the video below, he describes his passions of both the blues and Bollywood; I'd love to jam with him one day, as I self-proclaimed myself the messenger of the blues for the Middle East!

My Official Website Launched, Album Cover Revealed

Following to my signing to Ajna Records a few weeks ago, my official website alisleeq.com has now gone live!

You'll find some useful links, my bio, and some pictures taken by Yousef Al-Nasser.

Also, my debut album, "Gonna Die With the Blues" is set to be launched on February 13, 2017.

Here's the album cover, designed by Bachir Najjar:

Stay tuned for more updates as the weeks and months roll in, 

and thank you for supporting the blues!

Johnny Winter's Guitars and Other Items Up For Auction

some of the glorious Gibson Thunderbirds up for grabs

Guernsey's Auctioneers have put up over 30 guitars of blues legend Johnny Winter up for sale.

Johnny Winter died in 2014 and he has made a huge impact on blues and music in general. This collection is a testament to his status as a blues and rock god. Not only will there be rare guitars, but other items and novelties like hats, jewelry, posters and other memorabilia.

There will be two days of auction, one on 30 September, and the other on 1 October. You can check out the links here and here.

The proceeds will go to Winter's family.

So I Got a Buddy Guy Autograph

My man in Chicago, Steve Harper, went to Buddy Guy's Legends Blues Club, and met the OG himself.

Being the great guy he is, he asked Buddy to autograph his most recent Grammy winning release 'Born to Play the Guitar' and address it to me:

I now have fulfilled a dream, even if it was by proxy. Thank you Steve for this amazing gift; although I have this album on vinyl, it will be great in the car!